Reader application device

Various applications are executed using contact-based and contactless read and/or write devices, generically referred to as a reader, that communicate with user cards. These applications include banking applications, such as credit card processing, as well as identification applications, such as epassport. Each application requires a particular level of security against manipulation and attacks, ranging from no-security, such as in the case of near field communication applications, to a high security level, such as in the case of banking applications.

To perform high security applications, there must be a high level of resistance to attacks not only by the user card, but also by the reader.

An upgrade of reader security level is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve for at least two reasons. First, an upgrade often requires a hardware change. Also, the upgraded reader must be customized and certified; since this is often only possible in a secure environment, it is not feasible for existing readers to be upgraded in the field. The result is a manufacturer's choice between equipping the reader with a lower security level, risking the reader may not meet future higher level security requirements, and equipping the reader with the highest possible security level, risking the initial version of the reader being more expensive than necessary for applications requiring a lower level security.

One aspect of the present invention provides a communication system including a reader application device having a reader application, and a reader configured to operate under control of the reader application to allow data to be transmitted between the reader application device and a user device via the reader.

FIG. 1A is contactless communication system having a reader application card in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a contact-based communication system having a reader application card in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a communication method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention provides a communication system having a reader that communicates with a user card. A separate reader application card having a reader application can be connected to the contactless or contact-based reader. Under control of the reader application, the reader serves more or less as a data switch between the reader application card and the user card.

FIG. 1A is a contactless communication system 100 A in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1A , contactless card 120 A, also known as a chip card, smart card, RFID tag, or proximity IC card (PICC), operates on the basis of communication by an electromagnetic field with a read and/or write interrogating device, generically referred to as a proximity coupled device (PCD) or reader 110 A. The reader has a background system 140 A for processing data read by or to be written by reader 110 A.

Reader 110 A typically transmits an electromagnetic carrier wave. This transmitted carrier wave serves on the one hand to power the contactless card 120 A, which derives by induction the energy required for its operation, and on the other hand to initiate a communication between the card 120 A and the reader 110 A according to an established communication protocol. Communication protocols between contactless card 120 A and reader 110 A have been described, for example, in ISO standards 14443 A/B, 15693, and/or 18000.

Contactless communication system 100 A additionally includes a reader application card 130 A having a reader application. The reader application may be, for example, an epassport application, near field communication application, banking application, a security feature, any application based on high frequency (HF) communication, etc. Reader 110 A and reader application card 130 A communicate with each other in a manner similar to that in which reader 110 A communicates with contactless card 120 A, that is, using electromagnetic transmissions. The reader application card 130 A may alternatively be self-powered.

When reader application card 130 A comes within an interrogation field of reader 100 A, reader 100 A operates under control of the reader application, that is as a data switch or in a transparent mode, to allow data to be transmitted between reader application card 130 and user card 120 A via reader 110 A. Thus, the reader application in reader application card 130 does not merely provide access to user card 120 A via reader 110 A, the reader application controls reader 110 A. Reader 100 A may also operate under control of the reader application to allow data to be transmitted between reader application card 130 , user card 120 A, and the background system 140 A of reader 110 A via reader 110 A.

The term “data” is not intended to be limiting. Data may include any form of commands and/or information.

Reader 110 A may additionally have a selector 112 A to select between a plurality of reader applications. The selection may be between an internal reader application of reader 110 A and an external reader application stored in reader application card 130 A. Alternatively, the selection may be between multiple reader applications stored on a same reader application card 130 A or in more than one reader application card 130 A. A more detailed explanation follows.

When a reader application card 130 A is not within an interrogation field of reader 100 A, reader 110 A may operate according to an internal reader application which is generally installed during manufacture, though not necessarily. When reader application card 130 A comes within an interrogation field of reader 100 A, selector 112 A may select between the reader's 110 A internal reader application and a reader application stored in a nearby reader application card 130 A. If selector 112 A selects the reader application of the nearby reader application card 130 A, reader 110 A begins to operate in accordance with this external reader application. In other words, reader 110 A operates as a data switch under control of the external reader application to allow data to be transmitted at least between reader application card 130 A and contactless user card 120 A via reader 110 A.

Reader application card 130 A is not limited to having a single reader application, but may alternatively have a plurality of reader applications. When a reader application card 130 A having the plurality of reader applications comes within an interrogation field of reader 100 A, selector 112 A may select either between the reader's 110 A internal reader application and one of the plurality of external reader applications stored in the nearby reader application card 130 A, or may alternatively select between only the plurality of external reader applications. If selector 112 A selects one of the external reader applications, reader 110 A begins to operate under control of the selected external reader application to allow data to be transmitted between reader application card 130 A and contactless user card 120 A via reader 110 A.

There may also be more than one reader application card 130 A in the vicinity of reader 110 A. In such a case, selector 112 A selects between either between the reader's 110 A internal reader application and one of the external reader applications stored in the nearby reader application cards 130 A, or may alternatively select between only the external reader applications.

Alternatively, reader 110 A may not have an internal reader application. In such a case, selector 112 A selects only among any reader applications stored in any reader application cards 130 A within the vicinity of reader 110 A.

The selection of the reader application could be based at least in part on an application requirement of user card 120 A. For example, if user card 120 A is an automatic teller machine (ATM) card, selector 112 A would select a reader application that is a banking application having high security, or possibly merely a high security application for reader 110 A so that reader 110 A can be used with a banking application provided by a background system 140 A of reader 110 A.

Reader application card 130 A may have a display 132 A and/or an input device 134 A for displaying and/or inputting any kind of information, such as a login, password, application selection, etc. Display 132 A and input device 134 A may be any kind of known devices suitable for the intended purposes. Also, while display 132 A and input device 134 A are shown as separate components, they may be combined into a single device, such as a touch-screen display.

Reader application card 130 A can provide a level of the security of reader 110 A. If reader application card 130 A includes a banking application, the level of security should be at a high level. If the reader application card includes a near field communication application, the level of security need only be at a low level. Some applications do not require any security. It is to be noted, however, that a particular application is not tied to a particular security level. For example, the near field communication application can have a high security level. The reader application card 130 A of the present invention is advantageous in that reader 110 A may be easily upgraded in the field, and without requiring any hardware change.

Communication system 100 A is not limited to any particular form of contactless or electromagnetic communication and/or connection. The contactless connection between reader 110 A and each of user card 120 A and reader application card 130 A may be based on, for example, radio waves, microwaves, terahertz radiation, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, gamma rays, Bluetooth, or any other form of contactless connection suitable for the intended purpose.

FIG. 1B is a contact-based communication system 100 B in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

Contact-based communication system 100 B is similar to contactless communication system 100 A described above, except that reader 110 B, user card 120 B, and reader application card 130 B are coupled via a contact connection rather than a contactless connection. The contact connection may be, for example, a USB port, serial port, card drive, or any other contact connection suitable for the intended purpose.

Contact-based communication system 100 B is otherwise similar to contactless communication system 100 A. Since in light of the description of the contactless communication system 100 A one of ordinary skill would appreciate how such a contact-based communication system 100 B would function, for the sake of brevity, a description will not be provided here.

Further, reader 110 is not limited to communicating in only one of contactless and contact-based manners. Reader 110 may communicate with one of the user card 120 and reader application card 130 in a contactless manner and the other in a contact-based manner.

While the application has been described in terms of communication system 100 having user card 120 and reader application card 130 , the application is not limited to these devices being in a form of a card. User card 120 may be any form of user device suitable for the intended purpose. Similarly, reader application card 130 may be any form of reader application device suitable for the intended purpose.

One possible application for this invention is to allow a laptop initially having low security to process credit card transactions requiring high security. More specifically, reader 110 A may be located in a laptop having no security or a low level of security. When reader application card 130 A comes within the vicinity of reader 110 A, the laptop operates in accordance with a high security credit card application located within reader application card 130 A.

Another possible application is upgrading a wireless communication device, such as a near field communication (NFC) enabled mobile phone or personal digital assistant, to a secure device. More specifically, the wireless communication device with no security is implemented in reader 110 A. When reader application card 130 A having a high security application comes within the vicinity of reader 110 A having the wireless communication device, reader 110 A operates transparently in accordance with the high security application to allow data to be transmitted between application card 130 A, user card 120 A, and a background system 140 A of reader 110 A via reader 110 A. It should be noted that the background system 140 A can be an integral operating system of reader 110 A or a system running on an external computer or server.

FIG. 2 is a communication method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

When user card 120 is connected to reader 100 , either contactlessly or via a contact-based connection, reader 110 receives card data from user card 120 . (Step 210 .)

When reader application card 130 is connected to reader 100 , either contactlessly or via a contact-based connection, reader 110 receives application data from reader application card 130 . (Step 220 .) This application data causes reader 110 to recognize reader application card 130 .

Reader 110 then begins to operate in accordance with the selected reader application stored in reader application card 130 , and allows data to be transmitted between reader application card 130 and user card 120 via reader 110 . (Step 240 .) The data may also be transmitted between reader application card 130 , user card 120 and the background system 140 of the reader via reader 110 . Again, “data” is not meant to be limiting, but may include any commands and/or information.

The invention is not limited to reader 110 receiving card data from user card 120 before receiving application data from reader application card 130 . Reader 110 may receive card data from user card 120 after receiving application data from reader application card 130 .

Optionally, selector 112 may select one of a plurality of external reader applications from one more reader application cards 130 , or may select between an internal reader application and one more external reader applications, as described above. (Step 230 .) This selection may be based on the received card data, as also described above.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present invention. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specific embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is intended that this invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.